page_title: Glanville fritillary
section_title: Caterpillars
hierarchical_section_title: Glanville fritillary / Food Resources / Caterpillars
context_page_description: The Glanville Fritillary is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is named for the naturalist who discovered it and the checkerboard pattern on its wings. These butterflies live in almost all of Europe, especially Finland, and in parts of northwest Africa. They are absent from the far north of Europe and parts of the Iberian Peninsula. To the east they are found across the Palearctic.
  It has been discovered that this butterfly only mates one time in June or July and lays its eggs. It does not provide any protection to these eggs or care for the offspring. As adults, the Glanville fritillaries are short-lived; they spend most of their lives as caterpillars. As caterpillars, Glanville fritillaries enter a stage of diapause, which is a period of suspended development, during the winter time.
  The spiked speedwell and ribwort plantain are the Glanville fritillary's preferred plants to lay eggs and to eat as larvae. Female butterflies will show a preference for one plant species over the other when deciding where to lay their eggs, but the caterpillars have no preference once they hatch.
context_section_description: After hatching, Glanville fritillary caterpillars live in gregarious sibling groups.  They feed on their host plant, either Plantoago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) or Veronica spicata (spiked speedwell). Adult females prefer one plant over the other when choosing where to lay their eggs, but the larvae do not have a feeding preference for either plant when they are born.
caption: Ribwort plantain
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